There’s nothing like getting a wake-up call while you’re on vacation and finding out that the conference call announcing your GM’s departure and hire elsewhere (no matter how anticipated it was) is taking place within the hour. But such is life on the NBA beat, and so it is that Rod Higgins is officially gone to Charlotte and the Warriors are one-down in the front office.

That’s the way they’re going to stay, too. VP Chris Mullin is already the chief decision-maker and says he has enough to lean on — with coach Don Nelson, director of basketball ops Pete D’Alessandro, and special assistant Mitch Richmond as his trusted hands — that the Warriors will go forward without any title-swapping or additions to the front office for now.

What impact will this ultimately have on Golden State? Probably not much, outside of Mullin losing one of his few confidantes and running mates, and some extra work all-around. For Higgins, though, it’s a chance to reunite with Jordan, a former teammate in Chicago, former boss in Washington and long, long, long-time pal. And though he won’t necessarily have a bigger role with the Bobcats than he had here (Jordan is No. 1 and former coach/GM Bernie Bickerstaff is No. 2 in Charlotte’s chain of command), the Bobcats are a pretty intriguing team. They’ve got a young core and have tons of money to spend as one of the few teams who are under the salary cap. That’s a lot of room for wheeling and dealing.

Finally, a few odds and ends: Most of the Warriors’ front office, along with assistants Larry Riley and Keith Smart, are in Orlando wrapping up the pre-draft camp. The NBA pushed the annual gathering back this year and barred teams from working out prospects until after the camp, hoping that it would get more top-name players to participate. It hasn’t turned out that way. Most of the projected first and even second-round picks are there for physicals only.

I’m told the Warriors aren’t scheduled to bring in any prospects until the week of June 11th, so don’t expect to hear much about the draft before then. Also, if Billy Donovan leaves Florida to coach Orlando, as is being reported, get ready for Mike Montgomery Special, otherwise known as the college-coaches-won’t-make-it-the-NBA storyline to be debated over and over again.